What is the best approach to answer stackoverflow questions? I mean, I find that the answers provided are always edited despite putting some effort in my part to provide good docs. I have also provided links but the post gets negative points bc they are links… I mean, they want always for volunteers to provide full, aesthetic pleasant answers when even the post has been asked before or alternate links provides good & great answers. I find that they are lots of people in that forum lurking waiting to do minimum unnecessary changes or begging to get positive marks… don’t you find that annoying?

What are your thoughts of stackoverflow? And how to get bronze and gold points?

I really like Stack Overflow, but it’s definitely not the friendliest place for people just getting started.

kfrajer:

I find that the answers provided are always edited

I wouldn’t take this as an insult. People edit answers for a bunch of reasons, and it doesn’t mean your answer was bad- in fact, if it was bad, people would downvote it or vote to delete it instead of editing it.

kfrajer:

I have also provided links but the post gets negative points bc they are links

Providing links is good, but providing links without explanation is bad. A good post is self-contained without requiring any links. Links can provide more information, but the post itself should answer the question.

kfrajer:

even the post has been asked before or alternate links provides good & great answers.

Generally you aren’t supposed to answer these questions. These questions should be marked as duplicates. More info here:

In fact, if you try to answer these kinds of questions, you’ll generally receive downvotes, even if your answer is correct.

kfrajer:

I find that they are lots of people in that forum lurking waiting to do minimum unnecessary changes or begging to get positive marks… don’t you find that annoying?

Eh, different people enjoy taking different roles in Stack Overflow. Some people like asking interesting questions, some people like answering simple questions, other people focus on advanced questions. Some people enjoy community moderation. Some people care more about the gamification system than others. Some behavior is annoying (people who want to bicker, and people who basically do people’s homework for them), but people editing posts don’t really bother me. It’s also worth noting that you don’t gain any reputation from editing a post.

kfrajer:

And how to get bronze and gold points?

These are called badges, and they’re awarded for different behaviors and milestones. For example you can get one of the badges by visiting Stack Overflow every day for 100 days in a row. Here’s a list of badges and how you can get them:

I generally stay away from the super popular tags like Java and JavaScript, just because so many people are in them and it’s a race to answer, which isn’t very fun. I like to lurk in the smaller tags like Processing, which are much less hectic and I can take my time answering. You might also check out the unanswered tab which contains questions that still need answers. Try scrolling back to answer older questions, and take your time- do some research and try to provide a full answer. This takes a bit of patience, so it’s not for everybody.